Geez John, this is getting a little thick even for you. I think you just crossed the line between Editorial Cartoonist and Propagandist.

The Middle Class in this country is not primarily composed of the 7.6 million members of Public Employee Unions. It is a lot bigger than that and these people are a small minority. It is hard to feel sorry for a group that has larger salaries, better benefits and pensions that no one in the private sector can hope for.

“larger salaries, better benefits and pensions that no one in the private sector can hope for.”
Geez Phil, I think you may be a little thick on this. I know you right wingers love to talk about kool-aid drinking on the left all while shilling the fox/republican talking points but c’mon your statement is only true when you compare highly educuated public workers and unskilled private labor. Yes a teacher with a masters should make way more then the wal-mart greeter with a GED.

When compared public vs private with comparable skill and education guess what?!! public employees make less. Aren’t the pols always braying that they need raises because they would make so much more in the private sector. This is an obvious attempt by the right to use an apples to oranges comparison to….. engage in class warfare… egads I thought only the left did that.
Or Phil do you contend that it is hopeless to think that these private sector workers could attain higher education and get a better job,again aren’t you conservatives all about pulling yourself up by the boot straps. Maybe instead of bringing down one groups standard of living why dont we raise up the others? Personally I think everyone should be making at least $45,000 with health and dental. But that would destroy the ecomony right. Because the teachers making that are what caused the melt down. I keep hearing complaints like “lazy teachers only working 9 months a year.” I never hear you conservative talk about construction workers collecting unemployeement all winter. Shouldn’t they go work at Mcdonalds for a few months instead of suckling from the government teet? I love the hypocrisy, or is it ignorance, or stupidity. I’m not sure what it is when your smart enough to claim that 7.6 million Americans does not represent the middle class, but cannot see the hyperbole of stating that 2.5% of the population in work contacts with the government are going to cause us to be”…done as a nation.”

All this “Envy Politics” and rhetoric can only lead to a bad place. In a nation founded on the principle of the “PURSUIT of happiness”, rather than some guarantee that happiness would be provided, denegrating success and ambition seems a backwards concept.

For those people who are taking unfair advantage of circumstances to illegally, or just improperly, obtain wealth, by all means let’s use our laws and regulations to curtail such behavior. However, “throwing grenades” blindly at “the rich” is absolute nonsense and casting success as a negative is downright stupid.

There is nothing wrong, or vaguely improper, with any American taking fair advantage of any opportunity they are presented with to improve their standing or personal situation, actually that is the INTENT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM. The basic commandment, “Tho shalt not covet thy neighbor’s good” is all about the inherent destruction of “Envy”.

If your neighbor has flourished due to “ill gotten gains”, report him, try him and if convicted, put him away. If, however, those “gains” are the result of ambition, hard work, recognizing opportunity and taking fair advantage of such, STOP WHINING. If anything, consider what that person has done to be so successful and think about what you can learn from his example.

We seem to be shifting from a population of self determination and self sufficiency to a gaggle of whiners who waste energy complaining about the successes of others.

If someone’s father, grandfather or great-grandfather was smarter and more successful than your ancestors (for whatever reasons) be thankful for what you’ve been given, and if inheritance is that important to you, stop complaining and focus on building the inheretance you can leave for those who follow. The fact that his ancestors may have started on the road to success a long time ago doesn’t prevent you from starting on the same journey to benefit your offspring over time.

“Class warfare” is a dangerous game, once started it’s really hard to control or direct. You’ve heard the warning, “First they came for the Jews, but I’m not Jewish, then they came for the (Pick the group of your choosing), but I wasn’t a member of whatever group picked, then they kept targeting other groups that didn’t affect me, so I didn’t pay attention. Eventually they targeted my group and there was nobody left from the other groups to help me.”

It doesn’t matter which “group” is picked, it’s the fact that any group is picked and singled out for scorn that is the problem. Sometimes we all have to help those who can’t seem to keep pace, and we’ve developed a good history of doing that. Other times, those who can’t keep up, simply need to be taught how to run a little faster and try a little harder.

There is nothing bad about being successful, as long as that success isn’t caused by taking unfair advantage of anyone else. God willing, we’ll all be successful, but we all have to be willing to work hard enough and smart enough to generate success.

If you’re in a dead end job because you chose to drop out of school, who’s fault is that? Turn off the TV and go back to school at night and learn what you need to move forward. Likely not going to be easy, but neither is life. Thee is no “Free Lunch”, nor should there be and we each need to “pursue” our own happiness, because we are the only ones who capable of finding it.

We’ve completed 2 years of targeting the “Villan du jur”, some group, profession or industry has been selected as the designated villan for each and every one of our problems. Where has that taken us? To stop what’s broken from causing trouble, blaming some target group doesn’t make things better. Fixing what’s broken is what will make the problem go away, that means we have to understand what’s actually broken, and most of all, be willing to take the necessary action to fix whatever is broken and causing the problem.

Voting “present” and endless pondering doesn’t get the job done. Looking for magical “silver bullets” doesn’t get the job done. Urinating on every idea a political opposite might come up with, because they’re from an opposite political party, or ideology, doesn’t get the job done. The way you eat an elephant is by a lot of people taking small bites, rather than by blaming some small because they didn’t take big enough bites.

Well AlbertJ, where do we begin to tear apart what is obviously, on your part, a contrived justification for the institutionalization of the greed that feeds those at the top? To bad you couldn’t have gotten your last post to be presented against the flag, waving against a field of blue sky, with the draped figure of Lady Liberty standing to the side with a look of reverent awe on her face, while the text of your patrio-jingoistic diatribe scrolled by.

Theft is the institution for upwardly flowing wealth in our society, as our financial system has illustrated by the punitive nature of the distribution of fees, interest rates, and penalties that are levied against those who are not “fortunate enough” to already be sitting on a pile of wealth. The thievery has been institutionalized, codified in law and administered by a legal system whose main function is protecting the acquired piles of wealth and to see to it that the mechanisms, created by the wealthy to serve the wealthy, continue to function toward that end. Bernie Madoff was caught stealing and has suffered punishment (if you can call the country-club prison now his home punishment) not because he stole money, but because he stole it FROM THE RICH.

Why are the rich being targeted in the current discussion about where we are headed as a country? Because they have conspired, either overtly, covertly, or tacitly to float the boat that has delivered us to our present condition, and they have bought into the idea that it must not be rocked if they are going to continue to man the tiller and keep us all on the course that benefits them the most. It does not matter to them that the boat has sprung so many leaks that it can barely be bailed out fast enough to keep it afloat, and we have seen that they now require everyone to bail while they don the only life-jackets and take their assured places in the lifeboats. Arguments like your last post, are only meant to muddy the waters, appeal to the simple-minded (who make up a significant enough portion of the population to make them worth your time), and to paint a reasonable sounding rationale on the rotting carcass of the reality you have chosen to represent. It is a pill far too bitter to swallow, no matter how you sugar-coat it.

One of the distinct advantages of holding a position contary to what you believe INTIM, is that sooner or later you will unintentionally support my position by offering some ridiculous bombast that underscores how foolish your position is. Truly, I believe you have actually exceeded “blah, blah, blah” which I didn’t think was possible.

On and on you drone with grand pontifications, yet never seem to offer anything reasonable, much less persuasive, to back up your drivel. I’d ask “who, specifically, has conspired” as you suggest, but I’m convinced you will duck providing any response, as you have ducked responding so consistently before.

Exactly what pill, “is a pill far too bitter to swallow, no matter how you sugar-coat it.”?

AlbertJ – My statement stands as is. Your efforts to take away from its impact by offering your usual personal attack modality, is recognized and dismissed for what it is, a distraction to cover your inability to refute charges that you know are true, yet insist on serving anyway.

Wealth gap is way out of control. How can you expect to correct deficits when all the wealth is held by so few people and they have massive tax breaks? LOL. Unions/Middle Class? Can’t get blood from a stone. In NY, the wealth is on Wall Street and in the pockets of it’s leaders. Until Gov’t is ready to increase taxes on the wealthy corps and individuals, there is only one way to close the budget gaps. That would be to cut all social programs, education and general services. Take your pick. There will come a time when people realize that this has nothing to do with values, but everything to do with the fact that WAY TOO MUCH money/wealth was shifted to a very small percentage of the population. It’s a number game, not liberal vs conservative. You give massive tax cuts to the wealthy and deregulate corps, and whamo! Perfect storm. Wealth gets captured by those at the top and the truth behind trickle down economics becomes clear; its a load of bs. The US is not broke, all the wealth is in the hands of very few. PERIOD> Do the math people.

Oh yes, Unions and their pension costs? Ask yourself how much did the NYS pension lose as a result of Wall Street’s deregulation and unethical behavior on Wall Street. It was a LOT!

If the NYS Pensions lost big time their funds were invested unwisely or they sold at the bottom. Tant pis as the French say. (John that is not a bad word) Those of us who rode their investments through the storm have recouped most of what was lost in the crash.

Moral here may be take charge of your own money and don’t leave it to bureaucrats or unions.

Great point, the wealthy has created a target, public employees, and have pitted the non-union versus the union, to create an artificial hatred against a group of people. If the union gets broken, expect ALL salaries of middle class and lower to fall.

Bad enough they do this, but then they make up stories that private sector people are paid less than public sector. In another blog in this newspaper, it said that computer grads can expect to start at $61K, and that is about $10K more than what a state employee in a similar job can expect.

Valid point Phil. But don’t forget that there were some real snake oil salesman pushing those securities that were backed by fraudulent loans. See William Black’s work on this. To deceive is a lot differnet than to make mistakes. But your point is well considered.